Force Account Labor

The three policy tests

• No federal contingency: payment is not conditioned on federal funding.
• Uniform: applied the same way with or without a presidential declaration.
• Non-discretionary: set criteria for when each pay type is activated.

Fail any test and FEMA limits funding to your non-discretionary, uniformly applied pay rates.

Fringe benefits

Calculated as a percentage of the hourly pay rate. The overtime percentage is usually lower than straight time, because some benefits, such as health insurance, don’t depend on hours worked. Eligible under written policies:

• Holiday, accrued sick and vacation, and administrative leave accruals
• Social Security and Medicare matching
• Unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation
• Retirement; health, life and disability insurance

Never eligible

• Salary and benefits of an employee on leave of any kind, even with leave available.
• Administrative leave for employees sent home or told not to report because of emergency conditions.
• Bonuses and incentive pay, even for hazardous situations caused by the incident.

Reassigned employees

Eligible at the employee’s normal pay rate, not the rate for the work done. A police officer clearing debris is paid at the officer’s rate (pp. 81–82).

Funded from an external source

Straight time is eligible when an employee paid by a federal grant or dedicated funds is reassigned to eligible emergency work that source doesn’t fund. FEMA confirms there’s no duplication of benefits first (p. 82).

Called back from furlough

Straight time for essential employees called back from a budget-related furlough because of the incident is eligible, if not budgeted (p. 82).

Supervisors

Overtime for second-level supervisors and above (commissioners, mayors, department directors, police and fire chiefs) is ineligible unless you show all three:

• Direct involvement with a specific project
• Their time is normally charged to projects regardless of federal funding
• Overtime paid under a labor policy meeting the three tests

Premium pay vs. bonuses

Hourly extras such as call-back pay, night and weekend differentials and hazardous duty pay can be eligible for essential employees on eligible emergency work, under a qualifying pre-disaster policy. Bonuses and incentive pay are discretionary rewards and are not eligible (p. 83).

Backfill employees

Eligible because the regular employee is away doing eligible emergency work, not because they can’t work (leave or furlough doesn’t count). Costs must be for a limited period and tracked (p. 82).

All five criteria must be met

Intermittent standby time is eligible only for staff conducting evacuation or sheltering, search and rescue, or emergency medical care, and only when:

1. Standby use and pay follow your labor policy (or labor agreement) and your practice in non-declared incidents, or a contract or union agreement requires it;
2. It occurred when resources had to be available for the life-saving action;
3. The hours and people were reasonable and necessary;
4. The employee was conducting the life-saving action; and
5. All other labor eligibility criteria are met.

Examples and limits

• Bus drivers deployed to transport evacuees.
• First responders deployed to evacuate or give emergency medical care to save lives.
• A contract or union agreement that requires standby pay.
• Portal-to-portal firefighter pay (24-hour shifts with rest periods): reasonable and necessary costs only, up to 14 calendar days from the start of the incident period, with documentation of the need for continuous support.
• Standby time is separate from pre-positioning resources (Chapter 7).